The present invention generally relates to a graphical user interface for a computer system wherein data entries stored in the system can be easily accessed by a user. More particularly, a mechanism is provided which relates a data entry in the system to a displayed listing of all of the entries and allows the user to navigate through the data entries by interacting with the displayed list.
Currently, the IBM OS/2 operating system, version 2.0 utilizes displayed notebook pages as one means for representing data to a system user. These notebook pages are designed to make data presentation and retrieval clear and easy when using the system, since data can be retrieved and manipulated using objects that users are familiar with. For more information regarding the IBM OS/2 operating system, the reader is referred to "OS/2 2.0 Technical Library Programming Guide, Vol. 1, 2, 3, Version 2.00, Order Nos. 10G6261, 10G6495, 10G6494.
The IBM Technical Disclosure Bulletin, volume 35, number 2, July 1992, page 225 shows an unopened spiral notebook having a spin button which a user utilizes to turn the pages. A number of scrollable tabs are also shown which may be used to select various pages in the notebook.
Additionally, IBM Technical Disclosure Bulletin, volume 35, number 4B, September 1992, pages 284-285, is another representation of a notebook wherein a plurality of notebook pages are shown each with an alphabetically ordered tab. One of the shortcomings of this invention is the inability to show all of the 26 letters of the alphabet simultaneously. To solve this problems cascaded tabs are used wherein each tab has multiple letters associated with it. For example, U-W is included on a single tab and an arrow is also included on the tab such that the user can scroll between the letters on the tab and select the one of interest.
However, all of the conventional notebook representations require a user to tab or scroll through the alphabet to find a specific data entry. It can be seen that it would be extremely advantageous to have a system wherein a user could directly access data on a notebook page, independent of which page of the notebook is currently being displayed, by selecting a listed item corresponding to the desired data.